After several months of racing and jostling for positions among the top 16, the regular season in NASCAR has drawn to a close. The top 16 drivers have made it to the next challenge, the playoffs. Among them is Kevin Harvick, who made it into the playoffs despite being winless, now facing a tough road ahead to try and move up into the final four later this season, hoping eventually for a fairytale ending to his career.
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However, talking about Harvick’s chances of progressing through the postseason, fellow driver Denny Hamlin recently shared his predictions. Hamlin played out both scenarios, highlighting why he could make the final four and why he could be eliminated early on.
Denny Hamlin discusses and predicts Kevin Harvick’s performance in the playoffs
Speaking on his podcast, Hamlin mentioned, “I think it’d be a lot to ask that team (#4 team) to make it to the final four. If they made the final four, what a frickin’ accomplishment. I mean, that team is not, I’m not singling out the #4, but the team he drives for has been struggling mightily all year long.”
“So why he will make it to the Final Four is he’s Kevin Harvick, and he has Rodney Childers making the calls, and those two together they don’t, they don’t go out easy. Even though he’s only got four playoff points, which is the lowest, maybe it’s got to be the lowest ever for that grouping of guys. I’m actually pretty frickin amazed he’s got four playoff points, that he’s won stages.”
Even though Hamlin didn’t understand just where Harvick won the stage points, he remained in awe of his greatness. “That #4 team, they’ll just find a way,” he added.
Denny Hamlin outlines the factor that could see Kevin Harvick eliminated
Speaking further into the podcast, Hamlin analyzed what would be the only reason to not see Harvick progress through the postseason. He explained how their cars had been lacking the overall pace in races that would gather them the requisite points to move up the ladder.
The JGR driver noted, “They’ve shown glimpses of speed over the last few weeks or so. But, man, you can’t continue to just outperform all your other teammates that much.”
“That just means there’s not enough… Not enough room for error in speed in your car. So I think that they execute better than anyone in the series. But if he doesn’t make it is because this is just the slowest Ford car that we have seen…”
So as per Hamlin’s observation, there is a good chance to see Harvick in the final four finale on his last NASCAR Cup Series season outing. However, if he showcases a lack of speed and cannot capture crucial points, things could get hard for him.
